


Falling For You (literally, I'm on the floor)

by PoisonHw



Series: French Sarcasm meets British Wit [3]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: A lot of cliché too, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, And yet I did, Arno is in computers because of course he is, Evie wants to be a publisher and it's never mentioned, F/M, Fluff, I can believe I wrote this thing, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, a lot of fluff, cheesy as heck, what even is this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 09:33:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13478631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonHw/pseuds/PoisonHw
Summary: One has a very common line in a foreign language on his wrist, the other has a pick-up line in a foreign accent on her collarbone.Really, a match made in heaven.





	Falling For You (literally, I'm on the floor)

**Author's Note:**

> I love Soulmate AUs so I just had to write one. I'm not sure I wrote something decent. This is another little oneshot for the hell of it, because I'm still going to make this ship live, whether people read it or not. I did make it a series now.  
> I hope whoever eventually reads this enjoys, at least- don't hesitate to leave a comment, even to tell me about typos :D
> 
> Characters belong to Ubisoft.

Evie’s soulmark had always been a big problem in her life.

While the words on her collarbone had been there since birth, indicating that not only did she have a soulmate but they were already born, the actual mark wasn’t a good sign. For a full two years, her whole family hadn’t been able to read them for they were too small. But when they finally appeared, Evie was thankfully too young to understand the weird looks her parents had unwillingly thrown her way.

Child Evie loved her mark. Although she couldn’t understand the words yet, the font was pretty and it was written in a nice curve following the bone on her smooth skin. She showed it to all the other children, proud of already having it.

Then she grew up, and the words were far less beautiful.

Soulmarks didn’t just deliver the first words your soulmate was going to say to you. The way it was written was the important clue that would make you find them: an accent.

Evie’s words were in a perfect English, but the font didn’t belong to any English-speaking country. It wasn’t for lack of trying. But the many, many books and sources her parents and herself had read on the subject weren’t meant to give accent in different languages.

Her soulmate was a stranger from a non-English speaking country that she couldn’t identify. Despite the words existing, there was a good chance she wouldn’t be able to find them. For years, she’d hide the mark and restrain herself from putting any cloth that would make them visible. She made sure to avoid the subject. When asked about it, she tried to pretend the text was too embarrassing in her opinion (which, considering it was a bad pick-up line, wasn’t that far from the truth). 

Her twin brother, Jacob, found his soulmate at the very early age of seventeen, and saying Evie wasn’t jealous would be an awful lie. Ned was a wonderful man, a few years older, and the whole Frye family loved him. She saw clearly how happy he made her brother, and that helped soothe the pain of not being able to feel the same way for someone else.

So, instead of thinking about it, she focused solely on working hard to have the life she wanted to have.

Her grades were straight As, and she dedicated most of her time to studying.

At the age of 20, she was in the University of her choices, studying everything she wanted. While others were preoccupied with finding the love of their lives, she was doing what she could to be what she wanted to be. She didn’t need a soulmate.

At least, that’s what she tried to tell herself every day of the week.

* * *

Arno had always had a few problems with his soulmark.

It had appeared pretty late, about two months and a half after his sixth birthday; but he would always remember November 9th as the day his soulmate was born. At least the birthday was out of the way. One thing he wouldn’t have to learn about his soulmate.

The main problem, the one that his parents (and his entire family, really) worried about, was the language. Because he was French to the bone and a bit Austrian in his heart, but his precious soulmark, his words, were in English. And while he did understand English, the probability of meeting someone speaking this language where he lived was thin.

Not only that, but the words were awfully common: _I’m so sorry_. Anyone could say this. Anyone. Which made finding his soulmate even harder.

He had one thing on his side, though; the accent, which he had been able to decipher.

His soulmate (whoever they were) was from England. Despite the disagreements of his family, after four years of studying in France, he’d finished his studies in London in Computer Science.

He’d been working for a few years now as a Systems designer and was pretty happy with it, but still: no soulmate.

His flatmate, Connor, had the advantage of being alone as well and sharing his pain; apart from the fact that _he_ didn’t care much about the whole soulmate thing, despite the words Arno knew were laying on his ribs. At least they had each other.

* * *

Connor came back home to see a shirtless Arno laying on the couch. The French man was wearing his bad-day face, and _for the love of God_ , he was not in the mood to deal with it. Not today. He’d had a long day. But he was his best friend, and what are best friends for?

“Soulmate problems?” he asked without looking.

“I’m starting to give up.”

Connor rolled his eyes. He’d heard that one countless times, but Arno never gave up. He was a romantic at heart, and the idea of someone in this world being his one true love was too good for him to abandon. He sighed, swatting the other man’s legs so he could sit on the couch too.

“No you’re not. You’re probably just doing this the wrong way,” he said, not even convinced. “I have no idea how it works, you know that.”

Oh, Arno knew. The best friend he had was no help, had never been and would probably never be. Arno dreaded the day Connor would find his mate, because he had a gut feeling it would happen before him. The universe was cruel that way.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t support me.”

“Look, it’s the end of the year, people are going to be in the streets buying gifts and all. Go shopping, you might just bump into a person.”

Connor was smiling, and Arno knew the reason for this smile was how stupid his words were. He couldn’t help but find hilarious the fact that so many times Arno had the opportunity to find his soulmate, but it never worked. Never.

He always tended to wait a few moments after answering someone who’d said his words, anticipating the eventual reaction; but thus far, no luck. And Connor meant well, but it was useless.

“Yeah, not gonna happen. I’m going back to France for the holidays, visiting my family and all that,” Arno said. “Apparently they miss me.”

Connor huffed. “I find that hard to believe. Who would miss a guy like you?”

Arno threw a pillow at him to see the smirk disappear.

* * *

Evie sighed again, looking at her brother on the opposite couch. He had been bugging her for hours now, trying to get her to leave for a vacation during the holidays.

In _France_.

What few friends she had were planning a trip there to celebrate Christmas and New Year and hopefully visit Paris. But she had planned on working again, even after her exams were finished. She just couldn’t let go _now_.

“I have to study Jacob, I’m not going to graduate by going on vacation.”

He groaned. “Evie, you’ve been studying hard for more than ten years now. I’ve seen your grades. Literally every single person in the family knows you’ve already got this.” He sighed. “Even last night, Ned was wondering if it’s possible for someone to graduate before having finished Uni, and I’m pretty sure your professors are considering throwing that damn diploma at your face right now.”

She looked at the ground, both ashamed and proud. It was true. Some lectures she already knew everything about, and a few professors had in fact told her about their inability to teach her more, always stating she was ready for real life. But she also knew she was getting tired, and kept going despite her body’s protestations. It wasn’t healthy, and it almost made her cry.

Jacob got up and sat right beside her, hugging his sister from the side.

“So you’re going to pack a bag and go enjoy two weeks in France with your friends,” he said with the fondest smile she’s ever seen him throw her way. “If not for you, do it for our sake. So we know you’re still human.”

Evie smiled. 

He never talked to her about the soulmate thing, even if he knew (and she knew he did) it was a big part of why she was pushing herself so much. He still believed, and she didn’t. But he’d learned long ago not to talk about it. She could feel him restrain himself from saying what he was really thinking.

_Maybe your soulmate’s French, sweetie._

She sighed, putting her head on her brother’s shoulder.

“Okay.”

* * *

Evie had lost her friends. She’d just gotten her bag back, and already she was alone. That was just great. At least the plane ride had been pleasant and pretty quiet. But they had plans, reservations, things she didn’t even know about since she was only following. No details, no documents, hell, no names.

She was screwed.

She put her bag higher on her shoulder. She didn’t even know where she was supposed to go.

And that was embarrassing. Groaning, she took a deep breath and started jogging in the airport, dodging the crowds, repeating _sorry_ over and over again and frantically looking for the ones who had abandoned her. Why was coming here a good idea again? She groaned once more, eyes closing for a second so that she could hate her life in peace, and… bumped into someone.

The collision was intense enough that they slipped on the smooth tiles of the floor and both parties ended up falling.

That, too, was embarrassing.

She quickly pulled herself together, not thinking about her bag but trying to check if she hadn’t killed a stranger by making them hit their head. Despite the man’s entire face showing an obvious but non-identified pain, he was thankfully still alive and well. She let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding and closed her eyes again, still kneeling on the floor, before looking up at him again.

“I am _so_ sorry,” she said, eyes practically begging for his forgiveness.

Her stomach felt better when he let out a chuckle and shot her a smile. His brown-brown eyes scanned her face, and he looked at the ceiling before shaking his head like he’d heard that one a million times.

“I guess I just fell for you,” he joked, and she stopped breathing again.

Evie was looking at him with eyes wide open, and she saw the confused (and kind of concerned) look he gave her in return.

His eyes followed her trembling hand as she slowly grabbed the collar of her top to show him the words carefully engraved in the skin. He looked shocked, to say the least, and let out another nervous laugh as her rolled up the sleeve of his shirt to show his. They both got up, and he started shaking his head again.

“Of all the places I could have met my soulmate, it _had_ to be the homeland,” he said, still not believing it.

But Evie had spent so long not thinking about that word, _soulmate_ , she’d tried to forget about it, she was so used to working non stop, that it dawned on her: she was not ready. She didn’t want this. She couldn’t have this. She had a life and a good carreer ahead of her, and having a foreign soulmate was not going to change that.

She looked at him, trying hard not to fall under the stress, and he seemed to become aware of the sudden tension.

“Listen,” she said, trying her best not to stumble on her words. “I know you’re my soulmate, and I’m really happy I found you, but you’re from a different country and I can’t do long-distance, I’m a student and I have so m-”

She stopped suddenly, because the idiot had put a finger in front of her lips. Just like that. How dare he? She gulped.

And then, revelation.

“I live in London,” he simply stated.

Evie felt like the weight of the world had just disappeared from her shoulders, and he smiled when he saw her relax.

“We should probably get out of the way,” he said, and she nodded before following him outside.

It was cold, but the lack of wind was enough to make it bearable. They stood for a few seconds, taking in the temperature, and he was the one to break the silence.

“OK, let’s do this right.” Hands in his pockets (because he had no gloves, apparently), he bowed a little. “Hi. My name is Arno Dorian. I’m your soulmate.”

She actually _giggled_ (oh god), and followed his lead. “Hi. My name is Evie Frye and I’m your soulmate.”

Arno grinned. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Evie. Truth be told, I’ve been waiting for this moment for years now.”

She blushed. “If we’re being honest,” she said, looking embarrassed again. “I didn’t. Your accent was impossible to decipher and I guess I just, gave up.”

“I don’t blame you, then.”

They stood for another few seconds in a comfortable silence.

“So, Evie, if you don’t mind my asking, what are you doing here,” Arno asked.

Dear Lord. Her friends. She had completely forgotten her friends. They were probably worried sick by now. Evie looked at her soulmate, far less relaxed now.

“I came with friends, I don’t know where they are this is terrible!”

“Hey, hey.” 

He put a hand on her shoulder. To stop her panicking, he found the best option to be cupping her face and kissing her straight on the lips. She was his soulmate, he was allowed to do that, right? At least she’d stopped. 

“How about this: you text your friends to tell them you’re okay and with me, _your soulmate_ ,” he said, smiling at the shocked and a bit exasperated look she shot him. “I text my family to tell them I’m going to be late, and I take you on a date. How does that sound?”

Still a bit stunned, Evie bit her lip, thinking for a few seconds before answering. He was good. No wonder his first words were a damn pick-up line. “Yeah, that sounds great.”


End file.
